Religious Education

At Victoria Road Primary School, Religious Education reflects our ethos and aims, making a substantial and distinctive contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The teaching of R.E aims to contribute to the development of the pupils' own beliefs and values and to develop their knowledge and understanding of key world religions.

Our key aims are:

1. To give an understanding of the religious, spiritual and moral values of others and for each child to consider thoughtfully their own attitudes, values and beliefs.

2. To provide a basis for the information of our children's values, attitudes and beliefs.

3. To encourage each child to gain self-understanding, explore their relationships with others and to consider their own place within the local community and wider world.

During our weekly assemblies we cover the main stories from the Bible which the children are encouraged to reflect upon. Churches together visit the school on a regular basis to share the Christian message.

We have close links with the Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity and regularly have speakers and visits organised through them. This ranges from Y6 visiting the Synagogue in Plymouth and learning all about ‘The Kinder Transport’ linked to their topic on Judaism and WW2, to Hindu dancing in Y3 and discussing issues of wealth and poverty in Y5.

Every year around Easter we visit Buckfast Abbey. KS2 take ‘The Threads of Easter’ tour. At each stop along their journey pupils hear the Easter Story from Palm Sunday to Easter Day and are encouraged to explore for themselves ideas which come from it. They can discuss their own responses and experiences. For each idea a bead is added to the thread of our journey making an attractive souvenir for each person to take away with them. KS1 look at ‘The Donkey’s Journey’ which tells the Easter story for the younger children to understand.

In essence our aim is to help our children develop respect and sensitivity for all people

and to understand more about the importance of religion in today’s world.

For a more detailed outline of our R.E curriculum, see the R.E policy.